This invention relates generally to media systems and, more particularly, to media systems that allow users to search for assets permitted by their parental control settings.
Current media systems, including, for example, television, audio, and gaming systems, allow users to access a wide array of media content. This content may include movies, television programs, music, news, interactive applications (e.g., interactive games), Internet resources (e.g., website, newsgroups, chatrooms), and any other media content capable of being presented on user equipment. This media content may come in many forms, including, for example, broadcast content, on-demand content, and recorded content.
Current media systems also allow authorized supervisors to restrict, or block, access to undesirable content. For example, parents may establish parental controls that limit their children's media access to content below a certain content rating (e.g., the MPAA rating of “PG-13” or the FCC television rating of “TV-14”). Current parental control blocking mechanisms allow parents to lock children out of viewing media content in several different ways. For example, parental controls allow parents to lock specific channels, prohibit shows of specified ratings from being accessed, lock specific types of media content (e.g., on-demand content), or a combination of these methods.
As parental control features are becoming increasingly popular, parents are blocking more and more media content. By blocking more and more media content, users may be restricted to a small subset of the total content available on the user equipment. These users (e.g., children) may become frustrated over the frequent black or blank screens or “locked” dialog or prompts for parental control access codes.
In addition, users of traditional media systems may become disappointed to find their selected media content locked by parental controls. Users may fruitlessly attempt to tune to several locked programs in succession without receiving any media guidance or media suggestions of content that is permitted by parental controls currently in force on the media system.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a media system that improves the control users have to locate media assets that are viewable under the existing parental control constraints. It is also desirable to provide systems and methods for automatically searching for permitted assets after a user is blocked from accessing some requested asset due to parental controls. The system may search for content similar to the requested asset or locate edited versions of the requested asset that are permitted by parental controls in force on the system.